Point of No Return
by OnyxDay
Summary: Castiel Novak is sixteen years old and living in Lebanon, Kansas with his brother and sister. Dean Winchester is the new kid in town who lives with his younger brother down the street. *I'm not good with summaries, just read it. I promise it's good*


The sound of an engine rumbling through the streets outside his house causes Castiel Novak to jar awake from his surprisingly pleasant dream. He rolls himself over to check the time on his alarm clock and, after seeing that it is five in the morning and he still has two hours before he has to get up for school, rolls back over and huddles deeper into his comforter. He resumes his dream, the dancing elephants performing amazing feats of flexibility to the sounds of AC/DC's 'Back in Black'. The heavy rock morphs into the sounds of his alarm clock far too quickly for his liking and he rolls, his arm outstretched, and slams his arm on the 'OFF' button.

Castiel sits up, rubbing a hand down his tanned face. He wearily blinks his eyes as he tosses his covers off himself, swinging his legs off the bed and hissing as they touch the cold hardwood floor. He grabs his grey robe and slips his arms through the holes, tying it tightly around himself in an effort to fend off the chill of the November morning. He pads down his carpeted stairs and pauses, smelling bacon cooking. He stumbles down the stairs and enters the kitchen. He manages to grab three pieces of bacon before getting his hand slapped away by his younger sister, who is currently manning the stove. He grabs a mug and moves toward the coffee machine. He pours a mug full of the freshly made coffee and sits down, finishing the last of his bacon.

"Good morning Cassie!" His older brother, Gabriel greets him, far too cheerfully for the God-forsaken hour of 7:00 am.

"My name is Castiel, not Cassie." He growls over his black coffee.

"Gabriel, play nice. You know Castiel doesn't function before his third cup of coffee." Haiel reprimands him, turning off the stove and putting a plate of bacon in the middle of the table. Castiel lets his siblings grapple for the pieces of Heaven and continues to sip his coffee. He glares at the fowl, bitter, black sludge that is black coffee, or really coffee in general. He continues to drink it, wishing for a nice soothing cup of Earl Grey instead. However, as much as he wishes it would, tea doesn't have the power to wake him up like coffee does.

It is a widely known fact among the residents of Lebanon, Kansas that Castiel Novak only drinks coffee in two situations. The first is when he needs to stay awake, which is a sight usually reserved for his family in the early mornings or the wee hours of the night. The second, which is the one that most residents of Lebanon are familiar with, is when he is angry or brooding. Most residents have learned not to attempt to talk to Castiel when he is drinking coffee, because they know that he is most likely to be angry. The last person to try to talk to him when he was fuming over a steaming cup of coffee was Harry Spangler in eight grade. He came back to school a few days later with a broken arm and a black eye. Castiel tried to apologize, but Harry spent the rest of the school year avoiding Castiel.

Castiel finishes his last cup of coffee and Haiel slides a cup of tea over to him, already made to his liking. He nods his thanks to her and stands, cradling it in his hands and heading back to his room. When he gets back to his room he turns on the space heater, attempting to warm up the frigid room. He sets his cup down on his desk and turns on his iPod where it's been hooked up to his speakers. 'Bad Moon Rising' washes over him as he flits from desk, dresser, and closet. He wiggles into a pair of dark wash jeans and his old, well-loved, Led Zeppelin t-shirt. After checking the time on his phone and realizing he'll be late if he doesn't leave that instant, he shoves his feet into a pair of boots and grabs his bag, tossing what he needs into it, almost forgetting his iPod. He rushes down the stairs, nearly tripping, and pauses by the doorway.

"Be careful with my car Gabriel! If I find so much as a scratch on her paint, I will find your stash of candy and give it away to hungry children!" Castiel threatens as he slips his arms into his trusty trench coat. "Goodbye Haiel, have a good day at school!" He yells as he exits the house.

He walks quickly down his street, his bag hung loosely over one shoulder and turned so he can reach into the pocket. He looks through loose papers and old homework trying to find his iPod. When he does he lets out a celebratory cheer, then quickly ducks down after realizing he did that out loud.

An engine rumbling near him causes Castiel to look behind him out of habit. A shiny, black 1967 Chevrolet Impala glides down the street. Castiel stops walking and stares at it as it passes him, driving slowly down the street. He shakes himself and keeps walking, barely noticing that the car has stopped until a voice calls out to him.

"Hey, do you know where the high school is?" The voice asks him over the sound of AC/DC's 'Back in Black'. Castiel looks up and turns to the voice. A teenage boy, around his own age, is leaning out of the Impala's window. The dim morning light catches golden glints in his hair and makes his bright green eyes stand out against the grey of the morning.

"Uh..." He replies dumbly. Green eyes smiles up at him.

"I'm not some creeper or anything. Me and my brother just moved in down the street and we're a bit lost." He explains, the smooth baritone of his voice washing over him. Castiel is entranced by the little flecks of gold in the green of his eyes and forgets to reply for a second. He blinks a few times to clear his head.

"Uh, yeah. I'm uh, headed over there now." Castiel tells him.

"Why don't I give you a lift then, and you can tell me from the car?" Green eyes suggests with a grin. He suddenly turns to the passenger seat and disappears into the darkness of the car. Castiel can hear the sound of two voices talking, the other one higher than Dean's. Suddenly the passenger door opens and a mop of brown hair appears over the roof. A young boy, around fourteen, turns and looks Castiel over.

"I'm Sam Winchester, the jerk driving the car is Dean." The boy introduces himself before opening the back door and climbing in. Green eyes, Dean, leans out of the window again.

"What's your name again?" Dean asks him with a smirk, knowing he never introduced himself in the first place.

"Uh, Castiel. Castiel Novak." He tells them. Numbly he rounds the car, his inner voice screaming at him to stop. He tells it to shut up. He climbs into the car, sliding against the smooth leather of the bench seat.

"Nice car. 1967 Chevy Impala, right?" Castiel asks as he shuts the door, one hand running over the dash.

"Yeah. She's my Baby, helped Dad fix her up a few times. You've got a good taste in cars for someone who doesn't have one." Dean comments, pulling away from the curb. Castiel chuckles.

"I've got a car, actually. 1967 blue two-door Chevy Caprice." Castiel tells him with a smirk. Dean whistles in appreciation. "Actually, the 1967 Caprice was the 100th GM vehicle to roll of the line, the Impala came off a few days later." Castiel informs them. Dean huffs out a laugh. "Turn right here."

"So, if you've got such an awesome car, why were you walking to school?" Dean asks as he makes the turn.

"On Tuesdays and Thursdays I walk to school and my cousin Anna picks me up to go to her house. Also my brother's car is in the shop for a check up, so he's using it to bring my little sister to school today." Castiel tells him with a shrug. "So I'd be walking to school anyways, well I would have been if two handsome brothers hadn't picked asked for directions."

"Handsome, huh?" Dean chuckles. Castiel mentally curses himself for letting that slip.

"Well, one handsome brother and his uglier older brother." He amends, quickly turning his slip up into a joke. Sam laughs from the back seat and Dean scoffs, playing hurt.

"I'm offended Cas! And after I saved you from walking all the way to school!" Dean gasps. Castiel stills at the new nickname.

"Make a left here." He tells him, pointing. "Cas?" He questions.

"Castiel is a bit of a mouthful." He says with a shrug, turning the wheel. "Why, has no one called you that before?" They are forced to slow down as they hit the line of cars waiting to enter the school parking lot.

"No, actually. Most people call me Castiel or Cassie, which I hate so don't start calling me that." Castiel warns them, shooting a glare towards Dean then directing it behind him at Sam.

"As long as you don't call me Sammy." Sam tells him. "And Dean isn't so fond of 'Dean-o'." Castiel nods and leans forward to turn on the music. A few people in the car ahead of them get out, braving the cold to walk the extra block rather than staying locked up in the car for however long it takes to get into the school lot.

AC/DC blares through the speakers and both Castiel and Dean start to nod along to it. "Nice taste in music, by the way." Cas comments.

Dean grins at him. "Nice to know at least one other person here listens to decent music." Dean tosses a pointed look at Sam in the rearview mirror.

"I just don't like it when you blare it from the speakers 24/7." Sam whines.

"Stop whining bitch!" Dean tells him playfully.

"I wasn't whining jerk!" Sam shoots back, less playfully.

"Yes you were." Both Dean and Cas tell him. Dean smirks at the fourteen year old.

"Two against one Sammy! Majority rules." Dean crows. Sam huffs and crosses his arms. The line begins to move again and their car jerks forward. They stay quiet for a while, just listening to the music. Suddenly Cas sits up in realization.

"You weren't driving around our street at five in the morning, were you?" Cas asks suddenly, squinting his eyes at Dean. Dean looks at him blankly for a few seconds before laughing, tilting his head back and hitting the back of the bench seat. Castiel watches him, tilting his head to the side, fascinated by the way Dean laughs with his entire body, his eyes crinkling slightly at the corners. After a while he calms down until he is able to answer.

"Yeah, yeah I was. Couldn't sleep." Dean answers, wiping at the sides of his eyes to clear the tears that gathered there. Castiel screws his face up, not sure what was so funny about his question, but that just causes Dean to chuckle. The line moves again and they're finally able to get into the parking lot, finding a spot quickly for a place that was impossible to get into not five minutes earlier. Dean cuts the engine and Cas reaches for his bag, ready to leave. Dean catches his hand and he looks up into green.

"Uh, thanks. For showing us where the school is." He removes his hand and scratches the back of his neck, which Castiel does not find adorable, no sir. "So, uh, see you around?" Dean asks, as if it wasn't a certainty.

"Yeah, see you." Cas tells him, smiling as he opens his door and exits the car. As he walks away he swears he can hear Sam say something about not flirting while he's sitting right there, but Castiel dismisses it. He finds his friends in their usual spot, crowded around a picnic table on the senior patio.

"Cassie! Darling, whose car did I just see you stepping our of a few seconds ago? Did you find yourself a new beau? Meg will be so disappointed, though perhaps she will finally understand that you are in fact gay and your unfortunate kiss was a drunken mistake." Balthazar prattles, his smooth English accent the first voice to welcome him as he walks up.

"Balth, you know I hate that nickname. And there's no new 'beau'," Castiel puts his hands up to show the quotes around the word, "just a new student. His name is Dean and he and his brother Sam just moved to town. They needed some help finding the school, so I volunteered my help." Castiel explains. Balthazar tuts and shakes his head at him.

"C'mon Novak, I thought you were smarter than that!" Jessica, a freshman they tended to hang out with, pipes up.

"Really Castiel, you should know not to get into a car with a strange man." The Brit admonishes him. Cas rolls his eyes at them.

"If I ever actually listened to that advice, I'd never get into a car with you." Cas tells his English friend. He slides onto the bench next to Charlie, across from Jessica.

"So, what's this Dean guy like? He obviously shares your love of classic cars, but what else?" Charlie questions, leaning forward on her elbows. The fiery haired lesbian has a tendency to try to live vicariously through Castiel.

"He likes Classic rock. He has dark blonde, possibly light brown, hair, and freckles. His eyes are the greenest thing I've eve seen." He tells her, trying to dissuade her from fixing in on Dean and him, though most likely failing. "I like his laugh." He added as an after thought. Charlie's eyes brighten and she grins.

"Oh no, Castiel she's got that look on her face again!" Jess squeals, laughing as a look of pure terror finds a home on Castiel's face.

"You shouldn't have told her that Castiel, you know how she gets!" Anna advises her cousin. "You and this Dean person could end up as the new topic of her blog."

Castiel suppresses a shudder, having been the topic of one of Charlie's blog posts before. Charlie in shipper mode is a sight that no one should have to experience.

"Hey! I'm not as bad as that freshman Becky Rosen." Charlie defends herself. The entire table shudders at the mention of the obsessive teenager.

"Poor Sam, he's probably going to be in the same grade as her." Castiel muses. The entire group crosses themselves jokingly. Well, mostly jokingly. Somewhat jokingly. All right, they're genuinely concerned for Sam's welfare, even though Cas is the only one that has actually met him.

"I'll try to keep him out of her way as best as I can." Jessica tells them. Cas fixes her with a grateful smile.

"Thank you Jess." The bell rings and the group disperses to their respective homerooms. Castiel settles into his seat in the back of the class just as the late bell rings. Professor Morrison, who teaches history, calls roll and the students answer, just like they do every other day. It's all very repetitive. Anna tosses him a note, the neat scrawl of her red pen bright on the paper.

'_Are we still on for tonight, or would you rather "welcome Dean to the neighborhood"?'_

Castiel shakes his head and writes back.

**'I will be there. And if that was some sort of joke, it wasn't very funny.'**

He tosses it to her and watches as she writes back.

_'Wasn't joking. See you after school.'_

Castiel rolls his eyes again and nods at her. He spends the rest of the fifteen minutes they are forced to be in their homeroom finishing his homework and going over his math answers. The bell finally rings to leave homeroom and Castiel shoves his things back into his bag and rushes out of the classroom, nearly running into another student exiting the room next to his.

"Whoa!" Two strong arms grip his shoulders before he can fall backwards. Cas looks up and finds Dean grinning down at him. "Hey Cas!"

"Dean!" Cas's eyes widen as he regains his footing. He realizes that Dean is still gripping his shoulders. "You can let go of me now, I don't think I'm in danger of falling anymore." Dean releases him and blushes. "Where are you headed to next?" He asks, shouldering his bag and starting down the hallway.

"Uh…" Dean pulls out a schedule and scans it briefly. "B205, chemistry with E. Harvelle."

"Ellen. I'm going that way as well, I'll show you a shortcut." Castiel grabs Dean's hand and leads him toward the bathroom, weaving between people who decided it would be a smart idea to stop in the middle of the hallway. "All of the bathrooms have two entrances, so if you have to go from A to B, or C to D, or vice versa, just take the bathroom." Cas explains. They walk into the empty bathroom and Dean stops short.

"Why is it empty then?" He asks, taking in the emptiness of the not-so-clean bathroom.

"Because no one knows about it." He tugs at Dean again and leads him to the end of the stalls and stops in front of a door. He opens it and they walk out into the hallway.

"How do they not know about that?" Dean asks as they re-enter the throng of students. Cas shrugs.

"I belive most of them think it is just a door to a maintenance closet or something. I only know about it because my older brother Gabriel was friends with the janitors while he was in high school." Cas explains. Dean seems to realize that they are still holding hands and lets go.

"I think it goes without saying that if you tell anyone about this I'll have to kill you." Cas deadpans, walking beside the new student.

"Scout's honor." Dean swears, holding up three fingers. Cas scoffs at him, positive that he was never a scout, and enters the classroom, Dean following. He leaves him at the front of the classroom and sits down at his table, which he is just now realizing is the only table with an empty seat. He takes out his notebook and sets himself up on his side of the desk.

"Alright, settle down!" A woman with brown hair and a serious face enters the classroom after the bell rings. She spots Dean leaning on her desk and snaps her fingers at him. "Off the desk Winchester." She snaps at him. Castiel looks up at the familiarity in her voice and sees Dean smirking at her.

"'Nice to see you Dean. I didn't know you'd be moving here Dean. How's Sam, Dean?'" He mocks, his voice taking on a higher pitch. The entire class, including Castiel, gapes at him. "Way to make a guy feel welcome Ellen."

"Yeah, yeah, good to see you too Dean. Now sit your butt down next to Novak." Ellen tells him gruffly, but with clear affection. Dean smirks at her and ambles over to the empty seat next to Cas. "Open your textbooks to page 194. Dean, you're incredibly lucky that you arrived today because we're starting a new unit." Mrs Harvelle informs him.

"How do you know Ellen?" Cas asks him, leaning in next to him.

"Family friend. My dad grew up here and me and Sammy would spend summers here with our grandparents when we were little." Dean whispers back. Castiel nods and goes back to listening to Mrs Harvelle explain what they would be learning this unit. Castiel takes careful notes in his notebook, highlighting anything he thinks might help them in the future, because he can see Dean out of the corner of his eye watching him work and not taking any notes for himself.

Dean finally picks up a pencil and digs out a small notebook out of his leather messenger bag. He scribbles something and slides it over to Cas.

_**'What are you doing tonight?'**_

Cas quickly writes something back and slides it over.

**'It's a Thursday, I'm going over to my cousin Anna's house. I told you this in the car.'**

_**'Oh yeah. Guess I forgot. Was wondering if you wanted to show me around town, or something.'**_

Cas chokes as he reads the last sentence, reminded of his cousin's thinly veiled innuendo. He can feel his face heat up and knows that Dean's green eyes are trained on him. He turns to Dean and sees him raise an eyebrow at him. Cas looks back to the paper and hesitantly writes a reply.

**'I would love to show you around town, maybe this weekend?'**

Dean grabs the paper back and smirks.

_**'Sure, that'd be** **nice.'**_

Cas blinks at the paper for a few minutes in shock. He looks up at Dean and he winks at him with a smirk. He's so lost in his own thoughts and Dean's eyes that he doesn't realize the bell is ringing until Dean shakes his arm. Cas shakes his head and shoves his things into his bag and walks out of the classroom, Dean walking next to him.

"Where to Cas?" Dean asks with what Cas is starting to realize is his signature grin. Cas scoffs at him.

"I've got gym, I don't know about you." Cas answers with a shrug. Dean digs into his pocket and pulls out his wrinkled schedule, scanning it. He grins at the slip of paper as they continue to walk.

"Same." He answers, following Cas as he ducks between students. A large group ahead of them stops in the middle of the hallway to talk.

"Don't stop in the middle of the hallway! Rules of the road, people! Pull to the side if you need to stop, and keep to your right!" Cas yells, surprising Dean with the volume of his voice.

"Damn Cas. Didn't know you felt that strongly about hallway etiquette." Dean teases him with a grin.

"It's common sense Dean, it's not my fault most people don't have it." Cas grumbles. Dean chuckles and gives him a friendly shove, causing Cas to stumble slightly. Castiel shakes his head at him and tugs on his arm, pulling him towards a door. They duck outside and Cas leads him down the short pathway to the gym.

The building is separated from the main one, the mirror image of the cafeteria, which is on the other side. It's big, grey, and looks something like an oversized cement brick. The dark red brick of the main building looks inviting next to this grey behemoth. The two boys enter the building and Cas leaves Dean to get his gym clothes from Coach Turner. Cas enters the locker room and shoves his things into his locker after pulling out his clothes. He quickly changes into the track pants and t-shirt. He's almost positive Gabriel burned the matching shorts the moment the uniforms were sent home, declaring them 'unfit to wear'. Dean walks in, though saunters would be a more accurate description, and stops beside him.

"What, no red shorts?" He asks with a smirk. Cas sighs at the sight, growing tired of it already.

"I'm almost positive my brother burned them the moment I got them." Cas replies. Dean laughs again, though it is not as hearty as the one in the car.

"I think he's on to something. No one looks good in gym shorts, no one." Dean shudders, most likely from a past memory of a gym class gone wrong. Cas can't help but silently agree with him, especially after risking a quick glance around at the other male students, some of whom decided to don a pair of the bright red gym shorts.

"You should get changed Dean, Coach Turner doesn't like his students to be late for roll-call." Cas advises, lacing up his tennis shoes.

"I'm sure Rufus will cut me some slack." Dean dismisses, removing his shirt. Cas manages to catch a glimpse (he's calling it a glimpse, okay, so shut up, who cares that it was much longer than what most people would consider a glimpse) of strong, defined muscle, and a freckled chest. He finishes tying his shoes and rushes out of the locker rooms, going to sit on the bleachers until the rest of the class is out of the lockers.

"Novak!" Cas looks up at Coach Turner when he calls his name. "Get your butt off the bleachers and start your laps." He turns away again and Cas leaps up and starts jogging around the gym. Soon the rest of the class joins him and they collapse when Coach Turner blows the whistle. Dean goes to stand beside Cas where he's splayed out on the gym floor.

"You okay man?" Dean asks him, nudging his body with the edge of his foot. Castiel grunts and shakes his head. Dean laughs and leans down to grip his hands and hauls him to his feet, nearly dragging him to the bleachers. They both sit down with the rest of the class as Coach Turner addresses them.

"Okay, settle down. We've got a new student, as most of you know by now. Name's Dean Winchester. Say hi Dean." The coach motions towards Dean and he stands, waving to the students crowded on the bleachers. "Thank you Dean, you can sit down. Now, as you all know it's Castiel's day to lead warm ups." Cas sighs as most of the students let out groans at the mention of 'warm ups'. They slowly get off the bleachers and spread out in front of them, facing Cas where he's standing on the front row. Dean stands directly in front of him and grins.

"Jumping jacks!" Cas yells out and the mob of students in front of him start jumping up and down. Cas counts to ten then calls out the next activity. "Knee lifts!" Another ten, side leg lifts, then windmills, push ups, crunches, and finally two laps around the gym. They sit back down on the bleachers and Coach Turner tells them what their next activity will be.

"Today we'll be playing dodge ball. But, instead of two teams, we'll have two throwers. Two of you will be in charge of throwing the balls at the rest of the students, and the rest of you will have to dodge. The last person left standing will be one of the throwers, and they get to choose who they want as the other one. Understood?" A unanimous 'yes' comes from the students. "Good. Winchester and McLeod, you're up first." The two boys stand and make their way over to opposite sides of the gym, where two lines of dodge balls sit waiting to be thrown.

Crowley McLeod was, to put it nicely, a greedy manipulative jerk-off. But, to be fair, he was honest and always kept his word. If Crowley said he would give you a week to pay him back for whatever favor you asked of him, then you would have a week. Which is more than could be said about his cousin Abaddon. The short, brown-haired Englishman was surprisingly attractive for someone who was so evil. But, of course, Dean didn't know about Crowley's evil side, he only saw an attractive man who, despite wearing the same bright red track pants and t-shirt as him, was obviously well-dressed.

The rest of the class forms an amoeba shape in the middle of the gym. Coach Turner blows his whistle and Dean and Crowley throw their first balls. A few of the students are hit and they walk back to the bleachers to wait out the game. The balls keep flying and more and more students gather on the bleachers. Almost immediately, Castiel notices that Dean is purposefully aiming his balls away from wherever he is standing. Unfortunately, so did a few of their classmates, which means Crowley is purposefully aiming towards him, trying to catch one of the people crowding around Cas. Somehow, even with all the people limiting his movement, Cas manages not to get hit, which means he's part of the last two people left on the court. Dean throws his balls at the other person, one Benny Lafitte, and eventually manages to hit him, leaving Cas as the only player left. Turner blows his whistle again.

"Congrats Novak, you get to hit your fellow students with big rubber balls. Who do you want with you?" He asks. Cas wipes a bit of sweat off of his brow.

"Dean." He answers almost immediately. The coach shrugs and blows the whistle again. The students reform the amoeba, with Castiel and Crowley trading places. Dean and Castiel play perfectly in sync, without even looking at each other they manage to always throw at opposite ends of the blob. Their balls almost always hit their targets, even catching multiple people. Soon they're down to the last two, this time it's Benny and Lenore Benson. Dean and Cas lock eyes and nod, aiming their balls at their next target. The red rubber balls hit Lenore on both of her shoulders. The whistle is blown and Dean and Cas return to the throng of students.

Benny chooses his partner, a girl named Andrea that Cas is pretty sure he has a crush on. Dean and Cas decide to sit out for the rest of the game, so they start jumping in front of the balls to protect other students. They sit down on the bleachers and watch the game.

"Hey Cas, where's a good place to eat around here?" Dean asks suddenly. Cas looks up from the sight of his fellow students dodging balls and into Dean's green eyes.

"I believe The Bunker is a 'good place' to eat around here." He replies, doing the air quote motions. Dean laughs at him and shoves him with his shoulder.

"Well, I don't know where that is, so I suppose you'll have to show me." Dean says. Cas rolls his eyes at the green-eyed man.

"If you wanted to ask me out for a date, you could have just done so." Castiel teases, though you wouldn't know it by looking at his face. Dean chokes and coughs, his face going red.

"Man, warn me before you do that." He coughs.

"I'll be sure to remember that." Cas assures him. Dean tips his head back and laughs. Cas watches him, entranced by his laugh. Dean slaps him on the back as he quiets down.

"Cas, don't ever change." He tells his friend. The current game of dodge ball ends and everyone returns to the bleachers.

"Okay, back to the lockers. Get cleaned up." Coach Turner dismisses them. They all leave, going to the locker rooms the get cleaned up and changed. Cas does not stare at Dean when he changes out of his gym clothes, no sir (okay, maybe he does, but can you blame him when Dean's practically flaunting his perfect body in front of Cas's eyes?). Cas averts his eyes and changes back into his jeans and Zeppelin shirt.

"Hey, nice shirt Cas." Dean says, noticing the shirt for the first time, having only seen the trench coat before. Cas looks down and smiles at the shirt.

"My mom gave it to me. She got it at a concert a few days before she found out she was pregnant with me." He tells Dean, a small sad smile gracing his face. "She died a few years after Haiel, my younger sister, was born. My dad, he's not around much these days." Cas clamps his mouth shut and frowns, not knowing why he's telling Dean this. He met him this morning. Dean rests an arm on his shoulder and squeezes it slightly.

"I know how you feel. My mom died when I was four, Sam was just a baby, doesn't even remember her. Dad, he died in a car crash a few years ago. We've been staying with our dad's friend Pastor Jim for the past three years, but I decided to move us here after I turned eighteen. Me and Sammy have some pretty awesome memories of this town from those summers with our grandparents." Dean tells him, a wistful quality to his voice when he talks about his grandparents.

"Well, aren't we a pair of cheery people." Cas comments with a laugh. Dean chuckles with him and checks his schedule again.

"Uh, where's auto?" He asks, his brow scrunched in utter confusion. Cas tugs him along to the back of the main building, pointing to an outer building that holds the elective classes. Dean thanks him and heads off with a wave. Cas watches him with a small smile, shaking his head as he makes his own way to the elective building, heading not for the garage but the art studio.

"Cassie!" Charlie shouts his name and he turns, waiting for the redhead to catch up to him before he continues to walk. "So, was that the mysterious Dean that I just saw you with?" She asks him with a raise of her eyebrows. Cas rolls his eyes at her and shakes his head.

"Yes. We have a few of the same classes and I decided to help him find his way around the school." Cas tells her, hoping to downplay the situation.

"Did you show him your secret tunnels, or whatever it is you use to get to your classes so quickly?" She asks him, excited about this new development for some reason that Cas will never understand.

"I might have." He says, not quite answering it, but not avoiding it either. Charlie seems to take it as the 'yes' that it is and squeals, jumping up and down. Cas hushes her, as they have just entered the building and he doesn't want her attracting unwanted attention. They quickly duck into the art room and sit down together at their respective easels. Charlie doesn't say anything to him throughout their warm-up, though that could be attributed to the extreme concentration she's devoting to the task. Cas easily sketches the collection of vases, switching from pencil to charcoal after he finishes defining the basic shapes to add in the shading and definition. After they finish their warm-ups Miss Lisa, a small red haired woman with a very strange wardrobe that is best described as Hobo Rainbow Bright, dismisses them to work on their main projects.

Castiel pulls out the canvas he had been working on for the past month. He hadn't gotten very far, despite working on it every moment he could. The concept was fairly simple, at least for him. An Angel pulling someone from Hell, demons reaching up from the Pit to drag the soul back down, and an army of Angels fighting them off. He had the demons and other angels detailed, but the soul and the main Angel were still mostly formless.

He picks up his pencil and begins to sketch the details of the Angel, outlining wings and a hand, filling in the face and body. He finishes the last detail on the Angel's wings and moves on to the soul. The more he sketches, the more masculine it looks. He only looks up when he notices Charlie leaning over his shoulder.

"Don't you have a project to work on?" He asks her. She knows how protective he is of his art.

"Artist's block." She tells him. Cas cringes in sympathy. "You know, that kinda looks like you and that Dean guy." She comments, pointing towards the soul. "And the Angel totally looks like you."

Cas looks down at his sketch and thinks that maybe, maybe, she has a point. There might be a vague resemblance between them, though it's not that obvious if you ask him.

"I suppose they look a little bit like Dean and I, though you don't know what Dean looks like except for your brief glimpse of him." Casteil points out. Charlie huffs and points to the angel.

"He's a spitting image of you, maybe a bit older. And I might not know Dean that well, but you can't deny this guy shares a lot of his features." Charlie crosses her arms and raises and eyebrow at him. Cas rolls his eyes at her.

"Whatever you say Charlie." He says dismissively. The bell rings and Cas packs away his supplies. Charlie waits for him so they can walk to their next class together.

"So, when do I get to meet Dean?" She asks him as they walk out of the building.

"Right now." Cas turns and sees Dean walking up to them, a grin on his face. Cas feels his own mouth stretch into a matching smile. "Hey Cas."

"Hello Dean." Cas greets him, nodding his head at him. Charlie clears her throat and Cas turns to her. "This is Charlie. Charlie, this is Dean."

"Nice to meet you." She says, shaking his hand. "Cas, I totally get what you meant about the eyes. Damn, they're green."

Cas can feel his face flush and he turns to glare at his supposed 'best friend'. Traitor. Dean laughs, though his face has heated up slightly as well.

"Thanks Charles." He tells her, still laughing.

"No problemo. And Cas, I like his laugh too. And I don't swing that way." Cas flushes further and wonders if it's possible to disappear if you wish hard enough. Dean's laugh quiets down to a chuckle and they all walk to the cafeteria for lunch. Cas dreads the idea that Dean will be meeting the rest of his friends.


End file.
